


Scratching

by StrategicDilemma



Series: Bederia Week 2020 [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst, Bederia Week 2020, Developing Relationship, DressedinPinkShipping, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Teenage Drama, bederia, emotions are hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22864996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrategicDilemma/pseuds/StrategicDilemma
Summary: Gloria learns something new about love.Rated T for emotional hurt/comfort.Bederia Week Day 2: Feelings of Love
Relationships: Beet | Bede/Yuuri | Gloria
Series: Bederia Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1642540
Kudos: 35





	Scratching

**Author's Note:**

> This was a rough prompt to write for, so I essentially found a quote about love that I liked and it inspired this fic.
> 
> That quote is located at the end of the story.
> 
> I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this, but I don't think it's bad. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy!

When Gloria was younger, she watched so many movies about love: movies with heartfelt confessions in the rain, movies where couples would lie in fields of daisies with their fingers entwined. A young couple would overcome every obstacle, every tribulation, because of how they felt towards one another. They would look at each other, not saying a word, and simply smile, knowing the most important person in their life was right next to them.

Now, Gloria wouldn’t call herself a hopeless romantic, but she remembered thinking that was absolutely beautiful when she was a child.

She knew better than to say that love was perfect; the entire situation with her own father was enough to convince her of that. She knew that love could be difficult and took time to work well, and even when you work hard for it, life just doesn’t work the way you plan. Still, Gloria was secretly looking forward to the day that she could experience all this, that she could fight for someone that she loved dearly.

Nothing had really prepared her for this.

When Bede and Gloria had confessed to each other, things just became _easier_. Bede could now easily hold her hand whenever he wanted and make her stomach feel light. Gloria could just easily spout out every sweet thought about their relationship that filled her head, and Bede would just smile and brush her bangs off her face. They could really do what they wanted as a couple: Bede could invite her out for a picnic in Glimwood Tangle, and Gloria could ask about Bede’s hopes and dreams as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Every moment that Gloria spent with him was wonderful, making her unbearably impatient for the next.

What no one told her was how _addictive_ this was.

Gloria wanted to do _nothing_ but spend time with Bede. When she was in meetings, her mind would drift to him and she would be fighting the urge to just run away. When she battled challengers in exhibition matches, she wanted her opponent to be Bede so she could watch him battle. When Hop texted her, telling her he was in Wyndon and asking her if they wanted to grab smoothies together, Gloria resented the fact that it wasn’t a text from Bede and nearly didn’t respond out of spite.

And she _hated_ all of this.

Gloria knew that she loved being Champion, that she loved every battle, every interview, every boring night of filling in paperwork. It was all worth it because she was living her dream. However, Bede was overtaking that, and she found herself not wanting to do _any_ of her duties. None of them felt as good, brought her as joy as being with him. There was an unsatisfied itch, deep in her heart, that she just couldn’t scratch, and nothing that she had cared about before could satisfy it.

This itch just made every moment she spent with Bede so much more fulfilling, which was no help at all.

It was nearly like a dream, being able to squeeze Bede’s fingers entwined between her own or feeling the soft brush of Bede’s lips when he kissed cheek or shoulder. Gloria wondered how she could feel so addicted to another human being, but when every moment felt so wonderful, the answer seemed so obvious.

It was like everything that was once colorful in her life dulled to an ugly gray when compared to him, and that was terrifying.

“Hey Gloria, you in there?”

Gloria jolted out of her thoughts, finding herself sitting at a small table outside a café in Wyndon. Hop was sitting across from her, sipping out of his latte while Gloria’s hot cocoa remained untouched. Hop raised an eyebrow at her.

“You doing okay? You seem off today,” he asked. Gloria shook her head, sitting up straighter.

“Sorry, just thinking a lot,” she mumbled, taking a sip of her drink. It had cooled to lukewarm, and it was tasteless on her tongue.

“Well, you gotta snap out of it! You have a match with Nessa in a few hours!” Hop reminded her. Gloria sighed. Nessa had just come back from a trip to Kalos and was ready to flex her skills against her. In the rational part of Gloria’s head, Gloria knew that it had been a while since she and Nessa battled, and she should be looking forward to it. She should be excited to see what Nessa has in store for her, but it felt so hollow. The longing she felt towards seeing Bede was like a knot in her throat, urging her to either run to him immediately or lie miserably in her bed, knowing she shouldn’t do something to recklessly but still wanting to regardless.

It was such a pathetic feeling.

Her thoughts naturally drifted towards Bede, wondering how he was doing in Ballonlea. Was he moping around like her, wishing that Gloria was with him and wanting to see her as badly as she wanted to see him? The idea put a bit of a spark in her: if they both were having the same issue, then maybe they could work together to figure something out. Maybe they could plan a trip together and get far away from here, or work out some sort of system of seeing each other that would help alleviate this incessant longing.

“You’re disappearing on me again,” Hop’s tone shifted higher at the end in concern.

Gloria shot to her feet so quickly that Hop jumped and her hot cocoa spilled onto the table. Ignoring it, she began quickly walking away, a purpose in her step as she directed herself towards the Flying Taxi hub in Wyndon. Hop loudly sputtered behind her and he could hear him rushing to get up from his seat.

“Where are you going??” he called after her.

“Ballonlea!” she yelled back.

“Ballonlea?! You have a match later!”

“Tell them I’m canceling it! This is important!”

\----

“Oh, Leader Bede? He’s should be finishing up a Challenger match right now,” the Gym helper said perkily, stepping aside for Gloria to pass. “You can go ahead in and watch, if you’d like.”

Gloria nodded her thanks and walked past, opening the door to the stadium. Rather than climbing the stairs towards the stadium seats, she took the hallway that led towards the Leader field entrance. The roars of stadium and the vibrations of Pokemon’s attacks shook the walls, and Gloria’s heart raced.

The sight of Gigantamaxed Hatterene was what greeted Gloria as she exited the tunnel, stepping onto the field. Bede stood beneath his Pokemon, his stance confident as a wide smirk filled his face. His opponent’s Salazzle was Dynamaxed across from Bede, but she was struggling. Gloria recognized the dull look in Salazzle’s eyes as she hit herself in confusion, her trainer shouting at her to snap out of it.

“Did you really think you could bring a Poison type here and win so easily?” Bede’s voiced boomed throughout the stadium, the mic on his uniform feeding into the stadium speakers. His laugh was full and vibrant, and Gloria could see the shine in his eyes from even her position. The crowd cheered, chanting his name and cheering him on.

Bede was enjoying himself. After everything, he was still enjoying himself.

“ _Hatterene!”_ Bede commanded, his arm thrusting in front of him. “ _Max Mindstorm! Let’s end this!”_

Gloria watched in awe, seeing the utter joy on Bede’s face as his opponent’s Pokemon fell before him. The explosions echoed throughout as the Pokemon shrunk down to its normal form, fainting on the field. Bede was declared the winner, and his face lit up as the stadium erupted. Once Hatterene shrunk down to her normal size, the two embraced, Bede laughing wholeheartedly as his Pokemon nuzzled her face into his cheek.

Gloria loved him. She loved him so much.

Tears welled in her eyes, and her chest ached in agony.

She didn’t know how long she stood there, but Bede finally caught sight of her when he was handing his mic pack to a Gym helper.

“Gloria?” His face perked up, surprised but happy to see her. He rushed over to her, excitement filling his steps. “What are you doing here? Don’t you have a match later?”

His face fell immediately as he watched a tear slip down her face. “Gloria? What’s wrong?”

She broke down, tears spilling from her eyes and a sob crawling out of her throat. Bede immediately wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. Her held Bede’s shirt tightly in her fists, burying her sobs into his shoulder.

\----

“I don’t know why I’m like this,” Gloria groaned, “but I just know it’s scary.”

Bede and Gloria had moved to Bede’s bedroom in the Gym after Gloria had calmed down. Gloria had never known Bede to be especially graceful with emotions, but he patiently waited for Gloria to talk on her own, sitting on the bed next to her. She appreciated that.

She inevitably did, telling him about her lack of interest in anything she previously cared about and the obsessive need to be with him. “I thought maybe it was something you were experiencing, too,” she had explained, “but then I saw you and I saw how much fun you were having and I realized ‘no, it’s just me who’s being losing their mind.’” Bede had frowned at that, but he listened quietly until she was done.

A silence hung between them once Gloria finished, but Bede intertwined their fingers and held her hand, making her feel a bit more relaxed.

“This is all so new,” Bede said at last, “I may not have dealing with the same emotions that you’re having, but I still have felt many things that I haven’t before.” Bede looked down at their hands, squeezing her fingers softly. “It’s very intense for me, and I imagine it’s the same for you.”

Gloria nodded, a knot in her throat.

“I don’t know how much this may help you,” he continued, “but I would feel rather guilty if you were to give up everything that you cared about just to be with me.” He shook his head. “ _Not_ that I think you should do something just because of how I feel, mind you. Still, you have your own life, with your own aspirations, and I have mine. We being together now doesn’t change that, and I don’t think it should.”

“I know that,” Gloria murmured. “It’s just scary how much I want to just… _abandon_ all of that sometimes.”

Bede hummed beside her, thinking. “In my experience, intensity fades quickly. Maybe these feelings will fade too, as things become more regular between us.”

“What if they don’t?” Gloria insisted. “What if I crack before then?”

Bede shook his head, turning towards her and cupping her cheek with his free hand. “You are at least self-aware, and you recognize that these feelings are irrational.” His thumb brushed over her cheekbone softly. “Things will work out, we just have to be patient.”

Gloria tucked her head underneath Bede’s chin, his hand moving to wrap around her shoulders. “You seem so sure of that,” she mumbled.

Bede chuckled above her. “You could say I have experience with patience working in my favor.” He punctuated his sentence with a kiss to the top of her head.

\----

_"[Love is] a very dangerous state. You are inclined to recklessness and kind of tune out the rest of your life and everything that's been important to you. It's actually not all that pleasurable. I don't know who the hell wants to get in a situation where you can't bear an hour without somebody's company."_

_— Colin Firth_

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like it's pretty commonplace to make Bede an emotional idiot, but we should probably give that boy some credit.
> 
> Tumblr: https://strategicdilemma.tumblr.com/  
> Bederia server: https://discord.gg/c4p2KVS  
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/stratsdilemma


End file.
